Neighbor opposition to Lewes pickleball complex softens following negotiations

Why Should Delaware Care?
Delaware has made sports tourism a pillar of its economic development strategy, granting millions of dollars in recent years to various companies promising new athletic facilities. But a proposed expansion of a state-funded pickleball and tennis complex has also sparked tension in Sussex County where concerns about whether the area has infrastructure to handle its rapid growth are ever present.

A state-funded plan to expand a pickleball and tennis complex within The Plantations community near Lewes sparked a backlash from some neighbors this summer, followed by lengthy negotiations and finally a public relations cleanup. 

The plan will likely be up for a final vote on Nov. 17, following a Sussex County Council hearing Tuesday. 

The hearing featured little opposition from neighbors, marking a contrast from a public meeting in July when some argued the facility would bring traffic and trash to the gated community, according to a report from the Cape Gazette. 

Several opponents also expressed opposition to the pickle ball plan in written comments on the county’s website, including one who pleaded for local officials to “not allow this in our peaceful community.” 

The owner of the Dave Marshall Tennis & Pickleball complex has said the facility would feature five indoor pickleball courts, adding to the six tennis and pickleball courts at an adjacent existing building. Other outdoor courts also exist around the facility. It would replace a building destroyed in a fire in 2024. 

The plan received a $1 million grant from the state’s Sports Tourism Capital Investment Fund earlier this year. 

The application for that state grant described the new facility as one that would “host regional tournaments, driving tourism, hotel stays, and local spending while positioning Delaware as a premier sports destination.” 

Nearly all of the comments made at Tuesday’s hearing were in support of plan. They cited Grand Slam and World Champion tennis coach Dave Marshall’s commitment to the community, as well as the benefits of pickleball to the county’s aging population.

“There are very few indoor courts of this type,” said Millsboro resident Paul Bach. “It would be a great asset to our portion of the county.”

Further, representatives from the sports complex said during the hearing that they have hosted tournaments at The Plantations already and have not seen major traffic issues. 

A path to compromise?

To ease concerns in recent months, backers of the pickleball complex and neighbors have been negotiating a set of conditions for the project with an attorney representing two of the local homeowners associations 

Those conditions have not yet been finalized, and there have been several suggested edits passed between the two camps. But the current proposal limits the hours of operation for the facility, and caps the number of tournaments annually at 15. It also bans outdoor pickleball games, as they can be noisy. 

The facility’s owners also hired Kimberly Hoey Stevenson to handle the public relations for their project. During Tuesday’s county hearing, she said that negative feelings about the project were  “a case of miscommunication,” and that she has hosted open houses to answer neighbors’ questions.

“There’s been a lot of misinformation that has been spread. And truthfully, there’s been some outright lies,” she said.

Despite the ongoing negotiations, some nearby residents are still opposed to the plan. 

“I just think it’s too much. It’s too big of a plan for where this development is,” said The Plantations resident Susan Towers.  

The Sussex County Council will soon vote whether to rezone the area to allow the project to move forward, and which of the conditions to write into law. 

County councilmembers on Tuesday deferred their decision on the plan to allow negotiations to continue. They will continue to accept public comments online for the plan and its conditions until Nov. 13. 

What would the expansion look like?

Dave Marshall Tennis & Pickleball’s new building would replace one destroyed in a 2024 fire at the Plantations clubhouse. 

Attorney Mackenzie Sindelar, representing the company, noted the proposed building would be about 4,000 square feet smaller than the one it would replace.

Marshall would also build a pool to replace the one lost to the fire, Sindelar said, although it will not be financially feasible by itself and will have to come with the new pickleball building. The pool will be open to the public for a fee. 

The sports complex’s grant application argued that it should receive state funding for the project because it will host tournaments of up to 500 people, who will bring business to local hotels and restaurants. But those numbers also sparked traffic concerns. 

Traffic engineer for the applicant Dennis Hughes told the county council that the roads can handle the tournaments because only about 40 to 50 people would be on site at a time. People would play during their time slot then leave, and there would not be many spectators, he said. 

“There’s no time where you’re going to have 500 players on the site at one time,” Hughes said. 

The area is part of the Henlopen Transportation Improvement District, which outlines road improvements to be made with developer funds by 2045. 

In it are plans to widen Plantations Road, as well as expanding Mulberry Knoll Road to connect with Route 9, which could bring traffic away from Plantations Road. 

The post Neighbor opposition to Lewes pickleball complex softens following negotiations appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.